ITV

Category: Video On Demand

  • Netflix is home to ‘Godzilla’ & s2 of ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’

    MUMBAI: Animated movie Godzilla is heading to Netflix. The movie from Japanese anime studio Polygon Pictures will debut on Netflix worldwide later this year following a Toho theatrical release in Japan.

    The anime promises to offer an epic re-imagining of the Godzilla world of the future.

    Kobun Shizuno (Knights of Sidonia) and Hiroyuki Seshita (AJIN: Demi-Human) are directing the movie from a screenplay by acclaimed anime writer Gen Urobuchi (Psycho-Pass). Some of the film’s voice cast includes Yuki Kaji (Attack on Titan), Tomokazu Sugita (Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker), and Kana Hanazawa (Psycho-Pass).

    Netflix is also bringing the second season of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

    The maiden season covered the first four novels in Daniel Handler’s 13-part YA series. Netflix confirmed this with an announcement trailer playing off of the coded messages used by the secret organisation VFD in the show.

  • Netflix & Amazon investing in high-resolution tech, TV drama budgets comparable to films

    MUMBAI: Amazon and Netflix are not only acquiring documentaries and films, but are also heavily involved in producing their own content using UHD technologies, according to a white paper released by IHS Markit , a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions, ahead of Cable Congress 2017.

    Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) services have among the lowest revenue per hour of content viewed and of paid content services, making premium content a greater investment. While films comprise the largest number of UHD titles, TV series offer a better return on hours of content viewed per dollar invested, the IHS Markit white paper said.

    In the UK, Netflix offers 63 UHD titles. Amazon Prime and Amazon Instant have 28 and Sky has 26. “Online video producers generally offer a broader range of UHD genres than traditional pay TV platforms,” said IHS Markit senior home entertainment analyst Jonathan Broughton.

    “To compete, the budgets have grown dramatically to fulfill their ‘blockbuster’ needs. We are now seeing TV drama budgets around the same levels as major theatrical releases. This means that more expensive production methods involved in UHD make up a smaller proportion of the total budget.”

    IHS Markit delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. It has over 50,000 key business and government customers, including 85 per cent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world’s leading financial institutions.

    AlsO Read :

    Netflix’s Reed Hastings’ compliment pleases Hotstar

    Is VoD biz making money or it’s still investing?

    Lionsgate properties in film and TV on Amazon Prime Video India

    Indian entertainment channel in US for Amazon’s Prime subs

     

  • Hotstar targets Rs 150 crore plus revenue from IPL 2017 streaming

    MUMBAI: Is video on demand streaming service Hotstar cooking up a good revenue platter this IPL 10 season? Well, if some media reports are to be believed, then, it is. Anywhere between Rs 150-200 crore is what it is likely to serve onto the Star India top line. The figure for IPL was a much lower estimated Rs 65 crore.

    The Novi Digital-owned service yesterday announced the on-boarding of Chinese mobile maker Vivo and auto major Maruti Suzuki as presenting sponsors for Vivo IPL 2017. The sticker price has not been specified. All that the release states is that the sponsorships are “believed to be sizeable investments from companies of a scale that has not been seen in the Indian digital market to date and indicate their belief in Hotstar’s promise of delivering the largest global sporting event on digital this summer.”

    Media reports have speculated that the figure each is anteing up is Rs 20 crore.

    According to Hotstar, advertisers and media agencies are signing fatter cheques because of the fact there has been a meaningful shift from television to digital — especially, as far as cricket viewing is concerned. The release states that “the most recent India vs England ODI series saw Hotstar’s reach challenging that of television consistently. The reach hit 120 per cent of television in cities with more than a million in population and 147 per cent reach in the largest six cities in India (M15+, NCCS AB). At the same time, the platform has seen new records established for digital with the short format cricket matches regularly exceeding 20 million in viewership.”

    Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan is quite confident that the pioneering app is going to be the primary screen for this IPL season considering the 130 million viewers who are streaming video nationally.

    “Marketers are recognizing that these are audiences that are TV light or not present on television at all,” he points out. “We are reinventing the experience of cricket on a mobile and India is changing the way it watches its favourite sport.” Mohan told the media that the OTT player crossed had 200 million downloads by end February 2017. This is against the 50 million downloads, Star India CEO Uday Shankar had announced during the FICCI Frames inaugural keynote in March 2016.

    The streaming service’s contract with the BCCI is slated to end this year as it had paid Rs 302.2 crore to acquire the global internet and mobile rights three years ago.

    Vivo India CMO Vivek Zhang says he took the decision to partner with Hotstar as it appeals to the youth and enjoys tremendous brand recall. “Its desire to constantly invest on innovative technology which is in line with Vivo’s marketing objectives made it a preferred choice for Vivo We are truly excited about the delightful cricket experience that the platform is driving and were indeed keen to be a part of this drive,” he stated

    Maruti Suzuki marketing head Sanjeev Handa acknowledged that an increasing number of the auto firm’s target customer is engaging with the company’s products on digital. According to him, almost 50 per cent of users are researching cars online and hence a diffusion of the purchase cycle is taking place here. “Hence, our approach is integrating offline and online, (it is a ground sponsor of this year’s IPL),” points out Handa.

    “We wanted to embody the spirit of Play Glamourous for Vitara Brezza across the markets, and found a perfect fit by reaching out to the audiences via their closest screens, i.e. mobiles. An average user is spending over 150 mins each day on mobile. Our tie-up as co-presenting sponsor on Hotstar will give us the mileage and the engagement with the most glamourous sport in the nation!”

  • Second season of ‘A.I.SHA | My Virtual Girlfriend’ to launch on Arré

    MUMBAI: Arré’s cult and award winning web series A.I.SHA | My Virtual Girlfriend is back with a season two. This season endeavors to further explore the maze of dimensions that go beyond the creation of A.I.

    Season two of A.I.SHA is about revenge, redemption and a revolution that threatens to destroy anyone who comes in the way of a mad pursuit of power, control and world domination.
    This season of A.I.SHA has six episodes and will launch on the Arré App, website (www.arre.co.in) and all its partner platforms, including Facebook, Youtube, SonyLiv, YuppTV, Vodafone Play, and others on 23 March 2017.

    Arre founder B Saikumar said: “We are overwhelmed with the response on A.I.SHA, a show that introduced a new genre within the digital space in India. Set in the backdrop of A.I, virtual reality and cyber crime, this season explores various emotions from love to revenge in the real and virtual worlds, promising to keep the viewer on the edge of his seat. A.I.SHA is very special to us since it was one of the shows that Arré launched with and we are thrilled to be coming out with a new season within the year.”

    The show is presented by Gillette Flexball in association with Palo Alto Networks and Indo Nissin Foods. Palo Alto Networks has also partnered with the series as script consultant and advisor, to bring in the required technical authenticity to the show.

    It is produced for Arré by Raghu Ram and Rajiv Laxman’s production venture, Monozygotic.

    Ram added, “We’re fast approaching a world where the power balance depends on who controls A.I. Season 2 is a peek into this exciting and scary world and A.I.SHA is at the centre of this deadly power struggle. This season takes this great game to the next level.“

  • Limelight content delivery to simplify MultiTV’s ad insertion

    MUMBAI: Limelight Networks, a leader in digital content delivery, has announced that MultiTV is using Limelight’s Orchestrate Platform to bring high-quality online video to more than 40 million viewers across India.

    MultiTV, a leading provider of video streaming solutions for live TV and video on demand (VOD) in India, selected Limelight’s Orchestrate Platform to deliver exceptional video experiences to any device, anywhere. Leveraging Limelight’s global Content Delivery Network (CDN), the Orchestrate Platform now ensures that MultiTV customers get the reliability, consistency, quality, security and performance they demand.

    “Viewership in India is growing rapidly and there is complexity because of multiple devices, platforms and standards. At the same time, customers want world class reliability on a complex infrastructure at domestic price points,” said MultiTV founder Vikash Samota. “With Limelight, we have a global partner with excellent quality, capability and reach to help meet consumer expectations. This allows us to focus on our business – content acquisition and customer service.”

    MultiTV is also using Limelight Cloud Storage Services, making it easy for them to upload, replicate and manage large video libraries and quickly get content to viewers.

    “MultiTV is a pioneer in bringing next-generation OTT solutions to the fast-growing Indian market. To help develop this market, we’re determined to deploy our people, capabilities and capital at an accelerated pace,” said Limelight Networks CFO Sajid Malhotra. “After having doubled capacity in India last year, we expect to expand our capacity there this year by 5 to 10 times our 2016 capacity levels, and are prepared to assist and accelerate the adoption of CDN services in ways only we can.”

    MultiTV launched a Live Streaming solution using Limelight’s CDN with its proprietary technology that can detect commercials on live streams or VoD on any device. In addition, MultiTV provides technology solutions to solve the problems of video ad blockers. MultiTV helps broadcasters and content owners reduce infrastructure costs and provides solutions to assist with content monetization.

    Limelight empowers customers to better engage online audiences by enabling them to securely manage and globally deliver digital content, on any device.

  • Netflix’s Reed Hastings’ compliment pleases Hotstar

    MUMBAI: When the world’s most successful video on demand player Netflix acknowledges you as a rival to watch out for, you obviously are going to be fairly kicked about it. That’s the case at Star India-owned Hotstar.

    Sources reveal that the team – led by Ajit Mohan – inside the domestically originating service is pretty happy about the comment that Netflix CEO Reed Hastings made last week in an interaction with the media.

    Said he: “Here in India, consumers are fortunate because there’s a great battle with Hotstar, Amazon, YouTube and Netflix, and maybe others, all competing for consumer’s time. When you use your mobile phone, laptop, smart TV, there are many services to go to. You can do many things. We’re one of the choices. What’s unique about Netflix is that we have got these international originals, combined with local talent.”

    Hotstar India claims to have around 60 million subscribers in India and is gung-ho about going global. The plan is to target Indians globally and possible other international viewers too: the number is anywhere between 25-50 million worldwide.

    The other two players – Amazon and YouTube – are backed by global super heavyweights, while Hotstar is backed by Star India, which is part of Twenty First Century Corp. The latter is a midget compared to both and Google and Amazon in terms of valuation and market capitalisation.

    Says a media commentator: “Hotstar is targeting a billion minutes a day of watch time. Netflix does multiples of that in a day worldwide. Hence, to be named as a competitor to be watched out for is a stripe on the Hotstar team’s shoulders. As compared to Netflix, Hotstar has a smorgasbord of content offerings which are very local – right from soaps to series to films, primarily in house content created for its television channels. Or there’s the movies and the international shows from good libraries. Of course, in recent times, it has been curating original Indian content. And then, there is the IPL which drives the nation crazy. It’s interesting to see how team Netflix will actually do battle with it in the marketplace as it seeks to scale up the numbers in India.”

  • Inclined to stop watching pirated content, say 50% consumers: Irdeto

    NEW DELHI: Despite the high number of consumers around the globe watching pirated video content (52%), nearly half (48%) would stop or watch less illegal content after learning the damage that piracy causes the media industry.

    This willingness by nearly half of consumers to change their viewing habits would mean a huge impact that education could have on reducing the number of people who pirate video content.

    This was one of the main findings of The Global Consumer Piracy Survey of more than 25,000 adults across 30 countries conducted by major leader in digital platform security Irdeto. The report was made public in a Cable Congress in Brussles in Belgium.

    The positive outcome of an industry-wide education initiative could have the most impact in Latin America and Asia-Pacific regon.

    The survey showed that fifty-nine percent of consumers who watch pirated content in Latin America and 55% in APAC stated they would watch less or stop watching pirated video content after learning that piracy results in revenue loss from studios, affecting investments in future content creation.

    APAC (61%) and Latin America (70%) had the most consumers who admitted to watching pirated content, while those in Europe (45%) and the US (32%) said they pirate the least. These results indicate that consumers in Europe and the US have more access to the content they desire, reducing their need to watch pirated content.

    The survey also showed that 18 to 24 year old consumers in India (20%) were the most likely to watch pirated content on a streaming device. Around 52% percent of consumers in China in this age bracket indicated that mobile devices are their preferred method of consuming pirated content (that is, smartphones or tablets).

    Conversely, only 45% in Europe and 38% of respondents from the United States said that they would watch less or stop watching pirated content. This indicates that simply educating consumers in these regions about damages associated with revenue loss may not be enough.

    However, an education initiative focusing on piracy’s impact on the creative process of producing content, coupled with knowledge on how piracy is often linked to criminal organizations and that pirated content could include malware aimed at stealing consumer’s personal information, may resonate better in those markets, according to an Irdeto release.

    Irdeto CEO Doug Lowther said: “A battle is being waged in the media & entertainment industry. Legal content offerings are no longer only competing against each other. Pirates have undoubtedly grown into a formidable foe that should not be ignored. With more than half of consumers openly admitting to watching pirated content, it is crucial that the industry tackle piracy head-on. To do so will require technology and services to protect the legal content as well as a comprehensive education program to help change the behavior of consumers. Coupled with a 360-degree anti-piracy strategy, the market is fully prepared to take the battle against piracy to the next level.”

    The Irdeto Global Consumer Piracy Survey also showed an illegal vs legal awareness gap: While many consumers across the globe recognize that producing or sharing pirated video content is illegal (70%), far fewer people are aware that streaming or downloading (watching the content) is also against the law (59%). In Latin America, this gap was widest with 75% of respondents stating that producing or sharing pirated content is illegal, compared to only 60% recognizing that streaming or downloading is illegal.

    The overall survey results suggest that more education may be required around the globe to educate consumers that engaging in any form of piracy (producing, sharing, downloading or streaming) is illegal, Irdeto said.

    In nearly every country surveyed, many consumers recognize that producing or sharing pirated video content is illegal. But the survey found that this was not the case in Russia. A staggering 87% of respondents do not think that producing or sharing pirated video content is illegal. In addition, 66% believe that it is not illegal to download or stream pirated video content.

    Laptops were universally the preferred device for the consumption of pirated video content. Consumers in Europe (65%), APAC (45%), Latin America (53%) and the US (41%) stated that this was their most frequent method of consuming pirated content. However, a shift has already started, with many 18 to 24 year old youngsers surveyed indicating that they use mobile or streaming devices the most to watch or access pirated video content.

    The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cracked the top five in both categories, indicating that its population of 18 to 24 year old people are ahead of the curve when it comes to using mobile or streaming devices instead of laptops to view pirated video content.

    Interestingly, the Kodi box only registered as a top device to pirate content in the UK, with 11% of pirating consumers using the streaming device to access illegal content. The second highest percentage was in Portugal where 6% of consumers use Kodi to access pirated content. The highest percentage of Kodi users in the UK were in the 35-44 and 55+ age groups at 18% each. This is in stark contrast to the 3% of 18-24 year old’s using a Kodi box to pirate content.

    Movies that are currently being shown in cinemas/theaters (27%) and TV series (21%) were the most popular types of pirated content. Also, while live sports piracy is a growing industry problem, one surprise in the survey results was the percentage of pirating consumers who indicated that live sports was the type of pirated video content they were most interested in. The only countries that listed it in their top two were Portugal (25%), Egypt (23%) and GCC (19%).

    While the negative impact of live sports piracy is already being felt by the industry, this indicates that the market still has an opportunity to educate consumers about the damage that piracy causes the live sports space before the problem grows even larger. This education will be especially important for males as more men in each country indicated that live sports is the type of content they are most interested in pirating, while a majority of women prefer to pirate TV series.

    “Education around the negative impact of piracy on both the industry and the consumers themselves is an important element of any anti-piracy strategy,” said Irdeto vice-president of services Rory O’Connor. “The results of this survey show that many countries are open to change. To elicit this change in consumer habits will take a concerted effort from all the industry players to not only educate consumers about the negative impact of piracy, but also continued innovation to address the three elements of consumer choice – content, value and convenience.”

    The survey was commissioned by Irdeto and conducted online from 29 December 2016 to 16 February 2017 by YouGov Plc. A total of 25,738 adults (aged 18+) in 30 countries agreed to take part in the survey. Countries surveyed include: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, GCC (GCC region cluster comprised of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman), Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UK and US. Figures have been weighted appropriately to be representative of adults in each country (e.g. nationally representative, urban representative, online representative).

  • What the Netflix, Vodafone, Videocon d2h and Airtel tieups mean

    MUMBAI: It clearly is looking at spreading its net far and wide, at least on the availability front. Global video on demand service Netflix has announced the signing of partnerships with three of India’s leading players in the DTH and mobile telephony space: Airtel, Videocon d2h and Vodafone.  

    CEO Reed Hastings was in Delhi yesterday and is expected to be in Mumbai over the next few days to probably make a few more announcements.  Said Hastings at the conference: “India is one of the top 3 markets for Netflix in terms of mobile usage. We’ve had strong growth here; it’s stronger than all of the other Asian nations. It’s a larger market. In terms of investments, we are investing heavily into content. The watch time of our shows has gone up significantly since the launch of Jio.”

    He added: “India is one of the most important and vibrant countries in the world, and we are delighted to be teaming up with three of its leading companies to make it much easier for consumers to enjoy Netflix. In the months and years to come, we look forward to bringing our Indian members more compelling stories from all over the world, and ever-improving viewing experience, and incredible joy.”

    Details of the Videocon d2h tieup were made available through a press release yesterday. It said that Videocon d2h consumers will be able to enjoy Netflix on a large screen by simply clicking a dedicated Netflix button on the remote control of HD Smart Connect set top box (STB).

     Netflix will be available through a dedicated app available on the connected Set top box, HD SMART STB  which converts any existing TV into a Smart TV besides showing more than 600 channels and services in high definition and standard definition. The HD Smart Connect set top box allows viewing in SD and HD, using the satellite feed like any other Videocon d2h set top box. It can be connected to the Internet through any Wifi or Ethernet connection in the home for accessing a curated set of applications available through the Internet. The minimum Internet speed needed is 2 Mbps. These apps, both free and paid cover a range of content genres and utility apps. By connecting the HD Smart Connect STB to any TV, the TV would become smart.

    The Airtel partnership is expected to be in the same vein. Hastings told journalists that “we are focussed on the set top box with them so that the device attached to the television has Netflix on it, so they can stream directly to the television. In case of Vodafone, it is a mobile partnership wherein payment for Netflix will be integrated via mobile billing or through pre-paid schemes.

    With more than 94 million members (read subscribers) worldwide, the tieups will give Netlflix access to  humungous potential audience numbers.

    Says a media observer: “It’s a master stroke of sorts.  Depending on whether the Airtel DTH partnership extends to the mobile parent;  whether the partnership with Videocon d2h extends to Dish TV when they merge, and to Idea when it partners with Vodafone, the potential member base could extend the Netflix service to around 500-600 million potential viewers. And around 300 million smart phone and DTH viewers. Clearly Netflix means business in India.”

    The media observer who was unwilling to be quoted stated that what Netflix will have to look at pricing in India if it wants to become a mass brand.

    “We will get to know over time whether it is playing the volume game or the premium niche game. Currently it is the latter. Rs 550 to Rs 700 per month is limiting its subscriber base. But the advantage of Netflix’s higher pricing is that it can share more with its partners on the other hand, apart from the data consumption revenue that will accrue to the telco,” she said. “Our estimates are that its paid subscriber base in India is sub-500,000. All the other players are priced much lower and are yet to take off. Even Hotstar is struggling despite having a great content offering. And Amazon is almost giving away its content for free with its 499 per year package. Netflix will  have to decide which route it is taking.”

    Hastings acknowledged this to the media saying that Netflix  could come up with other payment plans – like a weeky one or daily, keeping in mind the purchasing power in India. But the current model is working well with the top 10 per cent, he disclosed. ” Our main focus is on adding more content. What we really want to be is a content solution, where you can get almost all you want to view in one place on Netflix.”

    Media observers expect other announcements soon – possibly a partnership with Jio? An office is likely to be set up in Mumbai by 2018. Hastings is slated to meet some production biggies in Mumbai in the coming days apart from following up on the progress of Sacred Games Phanton Films is producing for it.

    Watch this space!

    (Updated on 7 March at 1:15 pm)

    Also Read :

    Netflix: 46% of streaming couples cheat & watch ahead of partners

    Videocon d2h partners Netflix for HD Smart Connect

  • Is VoD biz making money or it’s still investing?

    MUMBAI: Beyond the hype, what are the ground realities of earning revenue? Or, is it still all about investing in content and infrastructure? When’s the likely inflection point when businesses could start to look at break-even?

    Trying to answer these questions at the CASBAA OTT Summit 2017 were — AltDigital CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya, SonyLiv EVP and digital head Uday Sodhi and GroupM South Asia chief growth officer Lakshmi Narasimhan.

    Evaluating the OTT space and enumerating on the best business model, the moderator for the evening — Provocateur Advisory principal Paritosh Joshi — asked the head of the recently launched (soft) AltBalaji app about the mantra to grab maximum eyeballs in the OTT space.

    Answering the doubt, Pantvaidya said, “India is a large market and the idea with AltBalaji is to connect with the 50-70 million people which correspond to e-commerce or functional 3G. There is also a market outside India of approximately 70 million people who want content. I think it is a library game. For SVoD to take off, content and habit formation among the people is crucial — our platform has content ranging from sublime to ridiculous. As Sameer (Nair, Balaji Telefims CEO) said, we are here to capture the market space between Narcos and Naagin.”

    Taking cue from Pantvaidya’s point, Sodhi added, “The consumer is sorted in its head about what he wants. There is a clear habit formation. They are consuming on the go. There is a difference in the watch-time and they are coming back to watch linearly same shows. Habit formation is happening.”

    India’s online video space will predominantly be an advertising led video-on-demand (AVOD) market even though subscription led VoD shows higher growth on a low base. If the digital eco-system becomes a SVoD dominated market, will that mean no business or loss for the advertising agencies? “There has been a pricing mistake in the last three years. The platforms come with a point of view that it will surpass television. The consumers think of these platforms as channels providing content. The players have to price it that way. In the US, OTT outstrips payTV in terms of subscribers but its annual revenues are lower,” added Narasimhan.

    Pantvaidya added, “There is lack of development in the appreciable distribution system. It can survive when there is subscription. You can share profits with them if you are a SVoD. With free content comes carriage fees.

    Further, Sodhi believes that its early days for everyone and there is no model which has been cast and stoned yet. He segregated the entire process into three phases. The phase one is when you throw content. In the second phase, people start coming to your platform and your focus is o retain them. Money making only comes in the third level. Citing examples of the three existing models in the world, YouTube, which is 100 per cent advertising, Netflix, SVoD based platform and Apple which is transnational pay-per-view platform. “All these platforms are fairly growing, and have reached this point after 15 years. They have come out of their strengths to build a model,” said Sodhi.

    Narasimhan opined that the AVoD services in the OTT space have not been explored yet. He also said that data from servers indicate that kids,youth and top-end consumers are moving to digital from TV which clearly shows that the eco-system is evolving in India.

    Joshi posted a question at the panelists asking whether they are underestimating the willingness of the consumers to pay for content. Pantvaidya agreed to his point, and said, “Scale and volume is necessary for spending. One should have faith in their content for it to sell.”

    Sodhi added, “There is room for so many things. Everything is falling into its right place. The run-away is getting shorter before the take-off.”

    OTT services are exploding in India and the business is more likely to be advertising-led in the short term. The OTT sector has clearly become a space to watch out for as the infrastructure continues to improve, devices get smarter and data prices fall. Let’s see what the future holds for these players.

  • Indian entertainment channel in US for Amazon’s Prime subs

    MUMBAI: E-commerce giant Amazon is planning to entice the fans of Indian TV shows and movies with a new on-demand subscription service called Heera which will showcase serials, movies and children’s content in five regional languages — Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Hindi, and Bengali.

    Heera, meaning “diamond” in Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, will have new shows and movies added every month, Amazon says. It’s being seen as the second SVOD channel brand from Amazon, after it debuted the Anime Strike channel earlier.

    Priced at $5 per month, the service is being started only in the U.S. and needs membership of $99-per-year in sync with other Amazon channels.

    Amazon claims ‘Heera’ plans to offer hundreds of recent releases and classic titles including the most popular Bollywood films such as “Fan” starring Shah Rukh Khan, “Sultan” starring Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma and “Kapoor and Sons” with Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt.

    Heera’s regional best collection would have Marathi classic “Mee Shivajiraje Bhosale Boltoy”, Rajinikanth’s “Kabali,” the best Tamil movie of 2016, and Telugu-language “Eega” starring Sudeep.

    For Prime members, the Amazon Channels lineup includes over 100 add-on video subscription services for Showtime, HBO and Cinemax, Starz, NBCUniversal’s Seeso, Fullscreen, Machinima, Warner Bros.’ DramaFever, A+E Networks’ Lifetime Movie Club, Cinedigm’s Dove Channel, CuriosityStream, Comedy Central’s Stand-Up Plus, PBS Kids, Fandor, Cheddar and Outside TV.

    Almost all the Amazon services are also available separately without subscription.